The Scottish Deer Centre will reopen its doors this week and we’ve had a sneak peek at the new owners’ plans.
The Cupar park has been closed for 13 months and its future looked uncertain after it plunged into administration last year.
However, it was saved in a buy-out by multi-millionaire gaming boss David Hamilton from Fife, and Dundee businessman Gavin Findlay.
And the pair say that while their families initially thought they’d lost their minds, they have huge ambitions for the popular centre.
New animals, a breeding programme, another eating place and even a children’s nursery are just some of the ideas they have lined up.
David, 37, said reading about the Scottish Deer Centre’s possible closure in The Courier last summer almost broke his heart.
“I immediately WhatsApped Gav and said, do you fancy buying a zoo?”
Gavin added: “And instantly, without a second thought, I said yes, why not buy a zoo?”
New animals and more for kids
The business partners will keep the animals already popular with families but intend to add more species.
They have already introduced Highland cows, two of which have just had calves.
Red pandas and Arctic foxes are among the other attractions they’ll bring, joining the deer, otters, European brown bears, lynx and wildcats which have been in place for years.
David and Gavin, 38, are enormously enthusiastic about the Scottish Deer Centre’s potential.
They are both dads and want to make the 55-acre park even more family-friendly.
David, who recently sold his Dundee games studio Ninja Kiwi in an estimated £135 million deal, said: “We definitely want to have a lot more for kids to do.
“I’ve brought my six-year-old here and while it’s great for her to see the animals, she constantly wants to go to the adventure playground.
“We’re already talking about bringing in a giant inflatable pillow and we recently bought a fire engine and an old tractor to play on.”
Gavin says the park will eventually be more interactive.
“Before, you could walk around and see things but moving forward we really want people to get more involved in the park.”
Children’s nursery
A pre-school nursery and a smoke house restaurant are two of the other things on the businessmen’s agenda.
“We’re going to remove the cafe and turn it into Little Doe Day Care,” David said.
“My brother and sister-in-law both work for the NHS and struggled to get their daughter into nursery when everything shut down.
“It’ll be good for the park and good from an educational point of view.”
Gavin, who is director of G2 Scaffolding, said the idea is to future-proof the park.
“We’ll be able to improve the park with the income from the nursery,” he said.
“Often in nursery they’ll have 10 kids in high-vis walking around the street.
“We’ll have them walking around in a safe area in the park while being educated.”
‘We’re out-the-box thinkers”
The Scottish Deer Centre was previously owned by The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which collapsed in November putting around 2,000 jobs at risk.
Woollen Mill boss Sir Philip Day also owned Peacocks, Jaeger and other high street chains.
David said Sir Philip had wanted to invest more in the Cupar park but was unable to do so.
“He said he was disappointed he didn’t have time to do it because he had 600 retail units,” he said.
“There were other interested buyers but he chose us because we’re out-the-box thinkers.”
Among David and Gavin’s “out-the-box” thoughts is to enlist Dundee graffiti artist Adam Milroy to do some artwork in the park.
Adam recently completed an impressive 165-feet mural paying homage to Dundee’s famous Tay Whale and they hope he can replicate his success on their barns.
But why buy a zoo?
“Gav loves the outdoors and it’s close to me in Wormit,” said David.
“We came here every year to Santa’s grotto and it would have been heart-breaking for us if the centre closed.”
He added: “It’s exciting, really exciting, for us and our families and everyone we know.
“Opportunities like this don’t come very often.”
David’s dad grew up in Cupar and David said: “He’s super proud we’ve actually got the deer centre because it’s been a huge part of his family all his lifetime.”
Gavin said he loved the idea the second he heard it but the fact he is a new dad sealed the deal.
“I just couldn’t think of anything better than watching my wee boy growing up around a zoo and around the animals,” he said.
Selling the idea to his family also proved interesting.
“I don’t think my partner believed me when I first said,” said Gavin.
“I think she just thought it was one of my moments I was having.”
But despite all the grand plans, David and Gavin’s first priority is the animals.
Gavin said: “One thing we said right from the start is we would rather leave a legacy as people who invested in the future of the animals than just two guys who bought a zoo.”
The Scottish Deer Centre opens on May 28 at 10am.